


We Can't Magic

by dont-tell-them-i-write-phan (QueenBoudicatheGreat)



Series: Into the Woods [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fae & Fairies, Fairy!Phil, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 05:46:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenBoudicatheGreat/pseuds/dont-tell-them-i-write-phan
Summary: Choosing to stay in the Fairy World had been easy, but there were some unforeseen difficulties.





	We Can't Magic

**Author's Note:**

> Posted to dont-tell-them-i-write-phan on Tumblr on 10/19/15

When Dan decided to stay in the Realm of the Fae he thought it would be loads of fun. He figured he’d be flying around, ‘Flitting’ - though he still wasn’t quite sure what that meant - here and there, and whipping his wand out of nowhere for every little thing. He decided to ignore Chris’ comments about the possibility him getting arrested for public indecency if he did that. He thought that now that he basically had a sugar daddy (whom he now knew not to call a ‘sugar daddy’ unless he wanted a pouty Phil for the rest of the day) he would be able to goof off and do whatever the hell he wanted until he became a Fairy actor. He thought everything would be perfect, smooth sailing.

He was wrong.

“I  _hate_ this!” Dan shouted throwing his wand, a thin but supple piece of willow about the size of his forearm, across the room. Like always it immediately flew back to his hand like an overeager puppy, and like he would with an overeager puppy, Dan glared at it until it disappeared.

“Look, I don’t see what the problem is,” Phil growled, dragging a hand down his face and vanishing his own wand. “This is a very simple spell and you just give up every time. Really try for once!”

Okay, that stung a bit. “Just because you’re some big fancy Fairy who knows how to do everything doesn’t mean we all are. In case you forgot I’ve only been doing this for about three months.”

“Oh, come on, you  _always_ bring that up!”

“Maybe because you keep acting like I should already know everything! I basically had to teach  _myself_ how to fly because you kept getting bored and frustrated while you were teaching me.”

“That’s because I’m not a damn teaching Fairy!” Phil snapped. “If you want that we can just put you in one of Louise’s classes.”

“Those are literally for five-year-olds!”

“Well, looks like you’d fit right in.”

As soon as the last word rolled off his tongue Phil wished he could snatch all seven of them back. Dan stiffened, shot Phil a look of hurt betrayal, and stormed out of the flat Phil had begun to happily refer to as ‘theirs’. Phil sank heavily on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Why the hell did he say that? Out of all the things in the world he chose that. Now Dan was gone and he had to admit it was all his fault this time. Sure, maybe Dan was a bit hard to teach, but Phil knew what he was getting into, Dan didn’t. Dan didn’t know that the reason only children came to the Realm was because they were so accepting of magic, a trait that wore off as they got older. Phil should have just taken Louise up on her offer to teach Dan everything, but he was selfish. He was still selfish. He wanted all those moments of success to be between him and Dan.  _He_ wanted to be the one who got to see that look of startled but pleased surprise Dan got every time he managed to do a spell.  _He_ wanted to be the one Dan automatically looked at for approval when he pulled off an impressive flight maneuver.  _He_ wanted to be there every step of the way and hold Dan’s hand the entire time. But of course he’d gone and screwed-

_Oh god, I’m lost._

Phil froze at the panicked voice that quietly chimed in his head. In an instant he was on his wings and out the door. Somehow during his pity party he forgot that Dan was very new to the city and very easily turned around. In fact, he’d never been out in the city without Phil by his side the entire time he’d been here. During that time they had worked very hard on their telepathic communication because that was one aspect of being a Fairy that Dan had picked up on almost instantly. They had gotten to the point where they could hear one another at truly remarkable distances and with a connection Phil hadn’t seen in many years, if ever. Unfortunately, Dan had also gotten very good at completely blocking Phil from every part of his mind other than the faintest impression of major feelings. Usually they both left their walls down, but right now Dan was sealed tighter than a drum and nothing but vague worry was coming across his end, and he wasn’t receiving any of Phil’s panicked concern. If Phil wanted to find him, he’d have to do it based solely on what he knew about Dan.

Suddenly he realized that he didn’t actually know Dan that well at all.

_______________

Dan sat on a park bench, head in his hands and hating himself. About ten minutes after his dramatic exit he looked up from where he’d been stomping around and realized that he had no idea where he was. He’d thought he’d been en route to the coffee shop Phil always took him to but one look at the unfamiliar buildings and he realized he was dead wrong. On reflex, he sent Phil a desperate plea for help but quickly shut down communication. The last thing he needed was that damn Fairy coming up and telling him again just how childish he was.

Dan furiously rubbed the upper part of his cheek (definitely not below his eye, no sir) and glared at the park around him. Fuck, just thinking about that still hurt, so instead he decided to actually look at the park he had miraculously found himself in. It was much like any park you’d see in a big city but on a much smaller scale. There were cute winding paths but instead of it being cobblestone it was marked with pretty colored sand. Instead of giant oak trees casting shade the children climbed all over the daisies that sprouted around. Dan also noticed the cute little balls of moss instead of bushes, carefully trimmed to keep their nice shape. All in all it was a rather beautiful park.  _Carrie would like it_  he thought suddenly, and wasn’t that a punch to the chest. He really needed to go see her again. Between the sudden transformation and all the Fairy learning he’d only managed to visit her and Mrs. D twice.

“You know, in all the time I’ve been here, I don’t think I’ve ever come to this park. I could learn a lot from you, Dan.” Dan looked up to see Phil’s apologetic face. He still looked like a kicked puppy. “You mind if I sit?” he asked, nodding at the otherwise empty bench. Dan shrugged, turning his head away while he sat. There was enough distance between them to be perfectly reasonable but they were just close enough that the tips of their wings touched. Dan wished he could hate it.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Dan said as soon as he saw Phil’s mouth open. “For once will you fuck up and just let me hate you for five minutes?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” Phil said, shaking his head. “I won’t talk about it if that’s what you want but I can’t just sit here and let you hate me for any amount of time. I love you too much to do that.”

“Don’t say shit like that when I’m trying to be mad at you,” Dan grouched.

Beside him Phil let out a low chuckle. “I had a feeling you might say that,” he said. He then pulled out his wand, and cocked a brow, obviously waiting for Dan to do the same. “Come on, do you want to learn how to do it or not?”

“Depends on if you’re going to call me a child again,” Dan responded frostily. He was still mad at Phil and hurt by the comment; he wasn’t about to roll over and forgive Phil  _that_ easily.

“Nah,” Phil said casually. “I think I’ve got a good enough grasp on my maturity now to refrain from ever doing that again.”

It wasn’t an apology, more of an admittance that he’d done wrong. Then again, Dan didn’t want an apology, so it kind of worked out. With an eyeroll he brought out his own wand and looked at the other expectantly. “Well?”

Phil let out a short huff of breath, a look of firm concentration on his face. “Okay, earlier I was trying to describe it by telling you to just make it exist, right?”

“Yeah, not much help TBH.”

Phil winced. “Yeah, my bad. Okay, so a better way to say it is that you need to kind of will it into existence?”

Dan’s brow crumpled in confusion. “What?”

Phil racked his brain for a simpler explanation. He had honestly been doing this for so long that most any spell was second nature to him. He never had to think of the steps, they just happened. “Alright, well, you know how some people can believe things so much that they actually start to impact them?”

“What, like a delusion?”

Phil made a face and wiggled his hand in a noncommittal gesture. “Kinda but not really at all? It’s more like when you’re little and you believe in Santa Claus and on Christmas Eve you could swear you hear sleigh bells on the roof.”

“Ha! So Santa  _doesn’t_ exist!”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that  _if_ Santa was real he certainly wouldn’t be careless enough to let a child hear him.”

“You’re no fun at all.”

“I try,” Phil grinned as Dan made a face at him. “But so do you kinda get it? Just picture something as vividly as possible and believe that it is there and it  _will_ be. Your magic will take care of the rest of it.”

Dan nodded. He didn’t say anything but took a deep breath and stared at the end of his wand with such determination that Phil felt his heart stutter just looking at it. His brown eyes were sharp and more focused than Phil had ever seen them. After a moment of single-minded silence Dan’s face and wand fell. “I still can’t fucking do it,” he muttered.

Phil shook his head and scooted closer. “You’re just thinking about it too hard.” He grabbed Dan’s wand hand in his own. It wouldn’t actually help anything - wand form didn’t come into play for another little while - but Phil took every opportunity he got to be that close to Dan. “Just picture it and let it happen. See it, want it, do it.”

This time when Dan nodded his face relaxed and he melted into Phil’s side. They sat in silence together for another moment before there was a soft shimmering at the tip of Dan’s wand. When Dan tensed in excitement it faded for a moment, almost like it was shy, before coming back full force brighter than ever before, then popping. Dan turned to look at Phil and beamed. “Did you see that?” he demanded, a grin brighter than any sunny day on his face. “I almost did it!”

“Yeah, you did!” Phil nodded encouragingly. “Now take that same feeling you had right at the very end there and try again.”

This time there wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation before the bright shimmering appeared and after a second it happily formed into a bright bubble before floating away and popping. Dan leapt to his feet and pumped his fists. “Fuck yeah!” he shouted. He quieted down at the disapproving glances he got but the elation never faltered. “Phil,  _I did it_.”

“I always knew you could,” Phil beamed, feeling much like his chest would burst with pride. He told Dan so just to see the pink high on his cheeks and hear the mutter of “Shut up, you winged loser.”

They sat there just reveling in Dan’s success for a while - it may have been five minutes, it may have been an hour (It probably wasn’t an hour considering neither of them had had any lunch) - before Dan turned to Phil, a smile crinkling the corners of his eyes and concaving his cheeks. “Hey, Phil?”

“Hmm. Yeah?”

“Take me home.”


End file.
